Transporter (an Ell Donsaii story #16), page 13
Though Zage was fascinated by the opportunity to view wildlife in their natural habitat, he couldn’t help also watching and observing Ms. Bakewell, who stood close to Mr. Jonas and touched him frequently. I think he’s her new boyfriend. He wondered what had happened to Mitch, her previous boyfriend. Or is she dating both of them? After all, he knew that, despite humans’ frequent proclamations that they were exclusively dating one another, they often failed to behave in a monogamous fashion. Perhaps she and Mitch haven’t declared themselves one-on-one. Maybe they’re both dating multiple people in an effort to find the best mates for each of them?
After pondering the question for a while, he decided not to ask her about it. She was embarrassed enough by my makeup question. I shouldn’t ask any more personal questions.
Ms. Bakewell let them walk the edges of the stream, peering into the water until some of the kids got bored and started acting up. Then she clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention and said, “Okay, this was fun! Time to start back to the pavilion.”
Zage still had his eyes on the crayfish. It’d abandoned its defensive stance and seemed to be digging in under another rock. Zage stayed in a squat at the edge of the stream, trying to figure out exactly how it was digging.
~~~
Osprey shunted video from Zage’s overflight flyers to everyone on ethe security team, highlighting a pistol. Mary shouted, “Zage team! Gun! Move It!”
~~~
Zage heard a man’s voice bark, “Get away from her!”
Zage’s eyes jerked up.
Mitch was back.
This time he had a gun pointed at Mr. Jonas.
Zage blinked feeling his heartbeat slowing, I’ll bet Mitch thought they were monogamous. Later he’d feel terrible that he might’ve delayed his response by some part of a second thinking it, though rationally he couldn’t believe it would’ve made a difference. He glanced down, then sent his hand after a rounded stone lying just under the surface of the water.
Zage stood, turning his left side toward Mitch. The rest of the kids were screaming, so Mitch took no notice of what Zage was doing. Everyone seemed to be moving slowly, telling Zage he was in the zone. He didn’t try to fight it, thinking, This is what it’s for.
Mr. Jonas had frozen, standing in the stream, arm lifted to hold Ms. Bakewell’s hand. He’d been balancing her as she walked across the log that bridged the stream. Though Zage didn’t think she needed the help, she’d seemed to like it. While he was taking this in, he was subvocalizing to Osprey, having him call 911 and the security team.
“I said, get away from her!” Mitch snarled in an even uglier tone.
Mr. Jonas seemed to try to let go of Ms. Bakewell’s hand, but pale as a ghost, she didn’t release her grip on his. “Mitch,” she began in a pleading tone, but the word ended as if strangled, Zage thought her throat had closed up out of fear.
Mitch fired his gun.
Zage threw the rock and squatted to find another while watching the first one fly. It didn’t go exactly where he expected it to—its aerodynamics were different from the sticks Zage threw for Tanner. Instead of striking the right side of his forehead where Zage had aimed, it hit his right cheek just below the eye with a crunching “thunk,” Zage glanced down to find another rock. He picked up the best one he saw, but it was a little heavier and oddly shaped. Standing, he cocked it back…
Mitch was down on his side, screaming and holding the side of his face.
Mr. Jonas was sitting in the water, holding his gut and looking stricken.
Even though he’d only heard one shot, Ms. Bakewell was sprawled face-down in the water next to Mr. Jonas, head submerged, unmoving.
“Osprey,” Zage said, dropping his rock, stepping into the knee-deep water and striding toward his teachers, “make sure 911’s sending ambulances. Tell them we have three adult people down with injuries. Make sure they know we’re out on a wilderness path that can’t be reached with a vehicle. They may need a helicopter with a rescue stretcher. Tell them the only adults here are the ones who’re injured. Everyone else is aged five to eight years.”
Zage arrived beside Ms. Bakewell and reached into the water grabbing her hair. With a heave, he pulled her head up into the air. To Osprey, he finished, “I’m trying to help so I won’t be able to talk much.”
He looked up. The rest of the kids were standing on the banks of the stream, with various expressions of horror. “Olivia!” he shouted. She was the closest one he knew well. Knowing he was moving fast, he deliberately slowed his speech. “Come hold Ms. Bakewell’s head up out of the water!” Mike!” he yelled at a beefy eight-year-old, “you help her.”
Olivia stepped into the knee-deep water and started wading his way. A moment later so did Mike.
Zage turned to the slumping Mr. Jonas. Afraid he’d pass out and go underwater too, Zage yelled, “Mr. Jonas! Can you move to the bank?”
Mr. Jonas’s eyes flicked toward Zage, but he started sagging with the direction of the water’s flow.
Mike and Olivia were holding Ms. Bakewell’s head up now. Zage grabbed her arm and started rolling her to her back while surveying the kids frozen on the bank. They’re used to being told what to do, he thought. Picking the biggest kids, he yelled, “Billie! Rachel! August! Kelly! Come out here and help!”
Zage turned to Mike and Olivia, saying, “Start dragging Ms. Bakewell to the bank. We’ve got to get her out of the water.” Billie and Rachel had almost reached him. Zage barked at them, “Keep Mr. Jonas’ head up out of the water.”
As Mike and Olivia started pulling Ms. Bakewell toward shore, her body finally rolled onto its back. He handed her right arm to Mike and told August to take the left one. Eyeing Olivia, he said, “Keep her head up out of the water!” He watched to see if Ms. Bakewell would take a breath while telling the other two, “Pull her to the bank and get the other kids to help you pull her out of the water.”
Turning, he saw Billie and Rachel were trying to hold Mr. Jonas fully upright. “Lean him back so the water floats some of his weight,” he told them. “Rachel, Grab the hood of his jacket and start pulling toward shore, it should also help hold his head out of the water. Kelly,” he said, “take Mr. Jonas’ right arm, and Billie, you take the left. All three of you drag him over to the bank.”
Without waiting to see how they did, Zage turned and strode through the water, now thigh-deep, toward the bank, following the three kids dragging Ms. Bakewell. Picking out the next biggest kids, he started calling their names and assigning them to help pull the adults out of the water.
His eyes went to Mitch, worried about the man’s gun. The man was on his back, breathing and sobbing. Zage couldn’t see his face but the hands he was holding over it were covered with blood. For a moment he wondered if he’d thrown the rock too hard. No, he decided, in this situation, better too hard than not hard enough.
Zage reached Ms. Bakewell and lifted her feet out of the water, trying to push while the other kids pulled her onto the bank. They were all discombobulated. Zage yelled, “One, two, three, PULL. One, two, three, PULL. One, two, three, PULL.” By the third time he called the rhythm, they got the idea and by the sixth, they had her up out of the water.
Zage looked to the side and saw Kelly, Rachel, and Billie had Mr. Jonas to the bank. For a moment he wondered if he should help them get him out. No, I’ve got to help Ms. Bakewell. He turned, “Mike, show these other kids how to count Mr. Jonas up out of the water!”
Zage climbed up beside Ms. Bakewell and moved to her head. Her hair was full of red stuff, Blood, he thought. He blinked, She fell off the log and hit her head on one of the rocks. He blinked again, What if that broke her neck?! His heart skipped a beat, Pulling her head up by the hair could’ve made a spinal cord injury a lot worse! He shook his head to clear his incipient panic and resolutely told himself, If I’d left her head under, she’d have drowned.
He’d been watching her chest. It wasn’t moving, so he felt sure she wasn’t breathing. Is that because her neck’s broken? Or because she drowned? Or something else? He hesitated, then thought, I can’t help a broken neck but drowned, maybe?
He’d seen a video of someone pushing on a drowning victim’s chest to squeeze water out of their lungs, so he leaned forward and pushed down hard on Ms. Bakewell’s chest with both hands.
It didn’t move much, but some water came out of her mouth and nose. In the video, they turned the victim’s head to the side… No, if her neck’s broken, we should wait to try that. He looked up, Olivia’s too small. “August, help me push on her chest to squeeze the water out.”
August looked terrified, “How?!”
Zage put his hands on the left side of her chest, “Put your hands like this on the other side of her chest.”
“On her boob?!”
Zage gave him a firm nod, “Unless you think she’d rather die.”
August tentatively put his hands on her right chest. Zage counted, “One, two, three, PUSH!” August barely pushed. “Harder! One, two, three, PUSH! Harder! One, two, three, PUSH! Harder! Come on! One, two, three, PUSH!”
Increasing amounts of water came out of Ms. Bakewell’s mouth and nostrils with each of the first three pushes, but it really gushed on the last one. Zage bent to put his mouth over hers for mouth-to-mouth but his mouth wasn’t big enough to cover hers. Can I blow in her nose? he wondered. He tried, but air came out of her mouth. He clapped a hand over her mouth and blew in her nose. When he looked at her chest, he saw with relief that it was falling as if he had inflated it with his own breath.
Zage gave her another two breaths, then wondered whether he could check her pulse. He’d done it on himself before, but not for a long time. If I can’t feel her pulse I won’t know whether her heart’s not beating or whether I’ve felt in the wrong place.
He was leaning forward to put his ear on her chest and listen for her heart when a pair of big boots appeared on the other side of Ms. Bakewell’s head. “Zage?” Barrett said, sounding out of breath. He must have run from where the security team stood by for emergencies.
Zage shook his head, “My name’s Gage. Can you help, mister? She fell in the water and hit her head. I think she’s got a lot of water in her lungs. Can you help push more of it out, then help her breathe?”
Barrett snorted and dropped to his knees. “Sure.” He put his hands on her chest and pushed. A lot more water gushed out. He said, “We should turn her on her side.”
Zage said, “I’m worried she might have a broken neck. From the fall.” He waved, “She fell off the log out there and hit her head. Maybe we should give her another breath?”
With another, softer snort, Barrett leaned down. Almost inaudibly, he said, “As you wish, Master.” He gave her a big breath.
Zage looked over toward Mr. Jonas. Alex and Lisa from the security team were kneeling over him. Randy was over by Mitch. He looked to his right. Mary was kneeling at Ms. Bakewell’s head. Steve was spooling down out of the sky to land at the back of the little clearing. Steve’s harness leaped back into the sky as he trotted toward them. Mary said, “I can take care of this guy now, Zage.”
Zage looked up at her and rolled his eyes. “My name’s Gage, lady, but thanks.” He stood on suddenly trembling knees and stepped back to let Mary in closer.
Steve saw Zage and started running his way.
Zage heard the beat of helicopter blades and realized he’d heard sirens earlier. Steve skidded to a stop beside him, “You okay?”
“Uh-huh,” he shivered. “Just cold.” Suddenly he realized he felt exhausted the way his mother had said often happened after being in the zone.
Steve pulled off his jacket and threw it around Zage.
“I didn’t mean I needed your jacket.”
“Tough, you’ve got it,” Steve said in a gravelly voice Zage hadn’t heard before.
Then he knelt beside Zage and said, “You look wiped out. You up to going over and standing with the rest of the kids in the hopes we can keep who you are a secret? Or should we abandon secrecy and whisk you home?”
Zage gave a little laugh, “Barrett and Mary both called me Zage, so it might not be a secret anymore. On the other hand, the other kids might not have noticed in all the excitement.”
Steve snorted, “You think I should give Barrett and Mary a stern talking to?”
“No!” Zage gave Steve his best wry grin, “Just tease them mercilessly.”
Steve laughed, “Done.”
Ms. Banner, the principal of the Nature Learning School, came running out of the woods. She was leading some men Zage thought were EMT personnel.
Zage thought, They drove the ambulance as far as the pavilion, but they had to run from there.
The helicopter came to a hover overhead.
Zage looked at Ms. Bakewell. Her chest was rising and falling on its own! He started walking toward the biggest cluster of kids, where he tried to fade into the group.
Olivia grabbed his arm, “How’d you know to do all that stuff?!”
“I’ve watched a bunch of fire and rescue vids.” He shrugged ruefully, “I probably did most of it wrong.”
Both Mr. Jonas and Ms. Bakewell had EMTs kneeling beside them now. The one beside Mr. Jonas was starting a big IV and talking agitatedly to his AI. Steve walked over to squat down and look at the rock that Zage had bounced off of Mitch. A moment later he trotted back along the trail toward the pavilion.
Olivia said, “Gage, who’re those guys dressed in the dark camo?”
Zage shrugged. “I think they’re hunters who were out here and heard the commotion.”
Olivia gave him a doubtful look, “Nobody’s supposed to hunt on this land.”
I don’t think my “Gage” identity’s going to survive this, Zage thought. How am I managing to blow two identities in one year?! Turning his eyes to Olivia, he said, “Maybe they were on neighboring land?”
She narrowed her eyes, then spoke to her AI. “Huh, you’re right. We’re pretty close to the border of Nature Learning’s land.” She looked back at Zage, “Some of them talked to you. What were they saying?”
“They were just trying to figure out what was going on so they could help.”
Ms. Banner approached the apprehensive group of kids. “Are any of you hurt?”
A few seconds later five of the kids were clinging to her. Zage felt pretty sure none of them had been physically injured, but there was no doubt they were frightened. This made him notice his knees were trembling again. He sat down.
Olivia sat down next to him. Six more kids clustered around and sat close to them.
Zage looked up. The helicopter was moving southwest, semi-parallel to the path to the Pavilion. A couple more men ran up to the people gathered around Mr. Jonas, setting down a long bundle.
Olivia asked, “What’s that?”
Though it was becoming obvious as the men unrolled and set it up, Zage said, “I think it’s a stretcher.”
The men quickly rolled Jonas up on his side, scooted the stretcher up against his back, then rolled him back down on top of it. A moment later the men lifted the stretcher and took off down the path at a run.
Zage realized the noise of the helicopter’s blades had quieted. Oh, he thought, they landed the chopper in that big meadow just south of the path. He looked around the little clearing they were in, realizing that, though it was big enough to fit the helicopter’s blades, there wouldn’t have been a lot of room to spare. It’d probably be dangerous landing here, not just to the helicopter, but to all the people in the clearing.
For a moment he wondered why they hadn’t lowered a rescue stretcher on a cable the way he’d seen in vids. He decided the boom and winch setup required for that probably only came on specialist rescue helicopters.
He looked over at Ms. Bakewell. Though she was breathing, he thought she was unconscious.
Mitch was being watched over, but the people around him didn’t look as concerned about whether he’d survive. Two men ran up from the pavilion carrying another stretcher for Ms. Bakewell. Behind them came more men, several of them carrying big boxes. More EMTs? Zage wondered.
One of the new men stopped, stepped up on his box and started rotating about. Taking video of the scene, Zage thought, realizing the men were police. One of the other men came over and squatted down near the kids, saying, “Hey, kids, are any of you hurt?”
It took a bit to get definitive answers but eventually it became evident that none had been injured despite how badly frightened the ones with Ms. Banner were. Next, the man said he was going to download the records from their AIs. Zage didn’t think the other kids would know that was something they had a choice about. He said, “Our parents might not want you to do that.”
The man gave him a sharp look. “We won’t look at it until your parents give us permission. We just like to download it so it doesn’t get lost.”
“AIs don’t lose information. I think you can wait until our parents give permission.”
“Look, kid—”
Barrett had walked up behind the man and interrupted. “The kid’s right. You can wait until their parents give permission.”
The man gave Barrett a frustrated look, “Look, I’m just trying to do my job. That’s to make sure whoever did this gets caught.”
Barret looked at the group of kids and said, “Who did this?”
Almost all of them immediately pointed to where Mitch was lying.
Barrett turned to the man. “Now you’ve got a pretty good idea. I think you can move on to collecting evidence. Like the gun lying next to the man who ‘did this.’”
The policeman rolled his eyes.
Barrett turned to a pregnant woman who was striding up.
Mom! Zage thought. He heard the blades of the helicopter spooling up. He was pretty sure it was lifting from the big meadow south of the path.
Ms. Banner called over from where she seemed nearly free of the grip of the frightened children who’d first glommed onto her. “Kids. Let’s go back to the pavilion and talk about what happened, okay?”
